Cold Lessons

By Michael McCulloch

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594145245
• ISBN13: 9781594145247
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Five Star
• Length: 253 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Couldn't put it down!

I originally bought this book as reading material for a road trip. I opened it a couple of days before the trip and found I couldn't put it down and finished the entire book before we took off. The author has an uncanny ability to make the characters seem perfectly real by providing intimate details along with the daily minutia of their lives. The main character is a bitter, sarcastic, and troubled man who is just trying to get by and do the right thing. It's hard not to cheer him on while at the same time wondering, "what is this guy thinking?!" This book was suspenseful, witty and totally absorbing. And, if you've ever had the experience of working with a commercial grade Hobart mixer, you'll really appreciate the school cafeteria scene!

A cold, dark flashback......

In the interest of full disclosure, I attended high school with Michael McCulloch's alter-ego (Keir Graff) and have found this book thoroughly enjoyable and parts of it something of a flashback. The characters are often familiar (yes, it's fiction, however there are some familiar faces in there for those who attended "Porte l'Enfer" with the author!) and the places often have their names changed (for protection of the innocent?). I found myself after a surprisingly short period NOT so focused on who I was reading about or who had written the book but focused instead on the story. Focused on the main character and what and his attempts to save the kids at his school from coke pushers. Remembering that in the late 80's, the strongest drugs we had at the time involved coke and booze; having the perspective of knowing the area (particularly in the winter!) it's heartening to see the main character, Gil Strickland, as the imperfect and all-too-human character he is throughout the book. I love that he refuses to preach but still has SOME moral fortitude - that there are some lines even he won't cross. I love that though he never had kids of his own and in spite of his alcoholism he sees the kids he teaches as his kids and that with the death and injury of kids in his school and blatant threats coming from odd places within the school hierarchy (from a noted corn-dog addict no less!) he will stand up for the kids and do what he can to put a stop to the kids getting hurt. How's THAT for a run-on sentance?! I've read a few things that my classmate has written about this, stating that the nom de plume was so that he wouldn't get pidgeon-holed into writing only one style - I somehow doubt he would ever do that regardless of the name on the cover. He's got a gift of "spinnin' a yarn" as the old Montana cowpunchers would have it. He tells a story that grabs you and holds on for the whole dark, sordid ride. It leaves you wanting more and my sole complaint: It's not longer. Well written, Keir. Can't wait to read your next SEVERAL efforts!

fantastic book

I just can't get this book out of my head. I read it over a long period (5 weeks, maybe), and somehow that worked for this novel. The protagonist is just so human, and so frustrated, and so wonderful. And he slogs the slog of life in such a heroic but decent way. It's just a glorious book, in my opinion. Some wonderful details about a (semi-)functioning alcoholic's way of getting by and getting his fix. And a wonderful, sad humor pervades. This one moment keeps cropping up in my mind -- where our hero confronts a drug dealer and asks his dog's name, and gets this extremely funny little answer right before the rough stuff kicks in. The protagonist fights the good fight again and again and again and again. He just won't quit, and it's so wonderful and heartbreaking. The ending is just breathtaking. It reverberates like the last page of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Honestly, you should read this novel. It's got such a strong, subtle, gorgeous humor throughout. I can't recommend it enough.

well written gloomy deep character study

In 1969 in Garden City, Montana Gil Strickland, an idealist, was named teacher of the year who made his classroom a fun learning experience. Eighteen years later and almost three decades as a teacher has destroyed his ideals as he is a baby sitter not an instructor; coming to work at Porte l'Enfer High School sober quite an ordeal. His lack of caring endangers his job as Vice Principal Flannel warns him to shape up or else. The school is shook when cheerleader Kristen Swales dies under the influence of drugs by crashing her car. Teacher Dick Simsonsen, who has always placed Gil on a pedestal, tells him he was having an affair with Kristen, which shocks the alcoholic, but fits his belief that moral decay is the norm. However when Kristen's friend Maria sneezes and blood shoots out of her nose, something inexplicable inside Gil resurfaces: a need to help his students. He begins to investigate the drug cartel preying on the local students over the objection of his travel writer wife of over three decades Lolita, but soon finds himself wondering if the red pen is mightier than the sword, make those guns. COLD LESSONS starts off as a well written gloomy deep character study of how far an idealistic caring person can fall when the optimistic armor is destroyed. Towards the middle of the intense story line, Gil converts into a born again needing to save the world one student at a time. However, the latter half of the story line is more an amateur sleuth thriller though the audience will still have some insight into the crusader who as he did in his youth is willing to risk all for his beliefs. Harriet Klausner